Viola would focus on this picture until she had paid off the bank and owned their home outright. Every business decision that she made, every dollar that went in the bank, was to pay down that mortgage and eventually to pay it off entirely.
My grandfather believed in borrowing money, and Viola, in paying it off. Their partnership was evenly balanced in this regard, one side fueling the other to success. Viola told me that marriage was a great invention, because built into the contract is a business deal. There is a checks and balances system in place, if both partners agree to use it. When my grandfather ran the numbers, Viola would check them. When Viola had an idea in the mill, she always ran it by my grandfather. They took their partnership seriously. They went to a proper lawyer to make their contracts. They did not rush the process; they pored over every detail until both were satisfied with every clause and sentence. The partnership contracts for their mill took them three years to negotiate. At this time, they were married for ten years and had four children. Cautious does not begin to describe their approach to business.
Owning your home takes a leap of faith. Choose what you can afford and what you are certain you can maintain. The current obsession with huge homes with enormous rooms and bathrooms, brand-new, custom built, would seem crazy to my grandmothers. Any home can be a palace, if you donât walk the floors at night worried about how to pay for it.
It isnât square footage that creates opulence; itâs peace, calm, and the comforting knowledge that we can live well within our means that give us security. It would never have occurred to my grandparents to live in a home that they could not afford. A palace ceases to be home when it empties your peace of mind along with your wallet. Your home should not be about status, but about serenity.
Buying a home was the basis of my grandparentsâ overall financial plan. When they moved from Dewey Street to outside of town, they were happy, but the mood was bittersweet. Success bought them their home in the country, but nothing would ever be as sweet as the goal of owning their first home, and the proposal that made the dream come true. Years later, Viola would take the turn off Garibaldi to pass their first home at 37 Dewey Street. She missed it for the rest of her life.
Invest in the stock market.
Viola was encouraged to invest in the stock market by her husband, who with a sixth-grade education had risen in esteem in the community as a businessman, becoming a member of the board of directors of the First National Bank in Bangor, Pennsylvania.
It was a very progressive notion to convince freshly minted Italian Americans to put money in a bank. They were highly suspicious of entrusting anyone with their money, and especially not a corporation in the business of making money. But Viola and Michael not only believed in banks, they put every cent they made into them. There was no mattress with cash, or hidden assets in the wall. For a couple of kids born at the turn of the twentieth century, they were practically financial renegades.
Early on, with very few dollars, they began to invest and follow the stock market. Viola used to have me read the stock pages aloud to her from the newspaper as she made lunch. I never liked to deliver bad news, but when a stock was down, and I duly reported the information, sheâd have a few curse words for the Wall Street Journal .
Upon Violaâs death, her portfolio included mainly blue-chip stocks in companies that she had a direct understanding of, and whose products she felt an affinity for. The diehards included food companies, energy industries, and the never-fail (!) banking industry. She had managed to hold on to her stock portfolio until her death without raiding it to live. She promised herself that she would live in her home until she died. She visualized that goal also, and made it happen.
Start
My grandfather believed in borrowing money, and Viola, in paying it off. Their partnership was evenly balanced in this regard, one side fueling the other to success. Viola told me that marriage was a great invention, because built into the contract is a business deal. There is a checks and balances system in place, if both partners agree to use it. When my grandfather ran the numbers, Viola would check them. When Viola had an idea in the mill, she always ran it by my grandfather. They took their partnership seriously. They went to a proper lawyer to make their contracts. They did not rush the process; they pored over every detail until both were satisfied with every clause and sentence. The partnership contracts for their mill took them three years to negotiate. At this time, they were married for ten years and had four children. Cautious does not begin to describe their approach to business.
Owning your home takes a leap of faith. Choose what you can afford and what you are certain you can maintain. The current obsession with huge homes with enormous rooms and bathrooms, brand-new, custom built, would seem crazy to my grandmothers. Any home can be a palace, if you donât walk the floors at night worried about how to pay for it.
It isnât square footage that creates opulence; itâs peace, calm, and the comforting knowledge that we can live well within our means that give us security. It would never have occurred to my grandparents to live in a home that they could not afford. A palace ceases to be home when it empties your peace of mind along with your wallet. Your home should not be about status, but about serenity.
Buying a home was the basis of my grandparentsâ overall financial plan. When they moved from Dewey Street to outside of town, they were happy, but the mood was bittersweet. Success bought them their home in the country, but nothing would ever be as sweet as the goal of owning their first home, and the proposal that made the dream come true. Years later, Viola would take the turn off Garibaldi to pass their first home at 37 Dewey Street. She missed it for the rest of her life.
Invest in the stock market.
Viola was encouraged to invest in the stock market by her husband, who with a sixth-grade education had risen in esteem in the community as a businessman, becoming a member of the board of directors of the First National Bank in Bangor, Pennsylvania.
It was a very progressive notion to convince freshly minted Italian Americans to put money in a bank. They were highly suspicious of entrusting anyone with their money, and especially not a corporation in the business of making money. But Viola and Michael not only believed in banks, they put every cent they made into them. There was no mattress with cash, or hidden assets in the wall. For a couple of kids born at the turn of the twentieth century, they were practically financial renegades.
Early on, with very few dollars, they began to invest and follow the stock market. Viola used to have me read the stock pages aloud to her from the newspaper as she made lunch. I never liked to deliver bad news, but when a stock was down, and I duly reported the information, sheâd have a few curse words for the Wall Street Journal .
Upon Violaâs death, her portfolio included mainly blue-chip stocks in companies that she had a direct understanding of, and whose products she felt an affinity for. The diehards included food companies, energy industries, and the never-fail (!) banking industry. She had managed to hold on to her stock portfolio until her death without raiding it to live. She promised herself that she would live in her home until she died. She visualized that goal also, and made it happen.
Start
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